The Data Protection Act
1998 gives you various rights to do with the information that businesses, the
Government and other organisations hold about you.
Personal information that
we use and hold is covered by the Data Protection Act.
This note is to make sure
you are fully aware of how we may use your personal information during your
child’s time at Ivybridge Pre-School and The Erme Kids Club. It covers the
areas set out below:
How we collect information about you
When you send your children
to Ivybridge Pre-School or The Erme Kids Club, we receive information about you
and any children who attend our setting in a number of different ways.
You may give us the
information. This may happen when you:
·
apply for, or we offer you, a place.
·
when you let us know about a change in your personal circumstances (for
example, if you change your name when you get married or move house).
We may receive it from
another organisation, for example, should we be required to work with social
services or other outside agencies.
How we use Personal information
We use information that we
have about you and your children for business purposes. These purposes
generally fall into the following areas.
1
Administration – This
applies to past, current and potential future children and their parents /
guardians.
We use this information for
the provision of child care.
The types of personal
information we collect and use include:
·
The personal details of your child;
·
The payment of fees due;
·
Details of the child’s Family (so we can contact you in case of an emergency)
·
Medical information (so we can cater for any special needs)
·
Ethnic background of your child (this is collected by Devon County
Council as part of the process to obtain Early Years Entitlement or 2Gether
funding for your child).
2
Provision of Education – This applies to past, current and potential future children and their
parents / guardians.
We use this information to
ensure that your child’s development needs are catered for.
The types of information we
collect and use include:
·
Education and Training Details (so we can ensure your child’s
development needs are catered for).
3
Keeping you informed – This applies to current, past and potential future children and their
parents / guardians.
We use this information to
keep you updated about events (e.g. to let you know about events and changes to
schedules).
The types of information we
collect and use include:
·
Email address. So we can email you updates/invoices/planning. (All
emails sent to parents are sent using BCC recipient option)
(Note: This is optional, and you can opt out of receiving email updates at any
time).
How long are we required to
hold information about you?
We are required to keep
certain personal information including registers, medication record books and
accident record books pertaining to the children for at least 3 years after the
child has left our setting (sometimes much longer). This is in order to comply
with ‘Early Years Foundation Stage Welfare Requirements’ (given legal force by
Childcare Act 2006) and other legislation (e.g. Limitation Act 1980/The Statute
of Limitations (Amendment) Act 1991).
Who do we share information with?
Generally, we only use your
information within our setting. There are some occasions when we need to
share personal information about you and / or your child with third parties.
These are:
·
If you chose to pay fees using vouchers (e.g. Childcare vouchers) we
will share the minimum amount of your personal information necessary with the
voucher scheme operator so they can identify you and make the appropriate
payments to our setting on your behalf.
·
If your child is entitled to Early Years Entitlement Funding or 2Gether
funding, we are required to share your personal details with Devon County
Council in order to identify your child and prove entitlement to funding.
·
Every now and again, we receive requests for information from schools,
government departments, the police and other enforcement agencies. If there is
a proper legal basis for sharing your personal information, we will provide it
to the organisation that is asking for it.
·
We may on occasion use your personal information for the purposes of
recovery of overdue fees.
·
In case of an emergency, we may need to share with the emergency
services details of your child including details of any medical conditions as
provided to us by you.
·
To contact you when we want to inform you about events at our setting.
Where we store your
information
We
will only store and use your personal information in the United Kingdom.
Our commitment to you
We will process your
personal information in line with the Data Protection Act. This means that we
will:
·
only collect and hold information about you which we need for some
reason;
·
keep your personal information up to date and accurate (to help us do
this, please let us know if any of your details change);
·
take appropriate steps to protect your personal information from being
used without permission, or illegally, and to safeguard your rights; and
·
destroy your personal information in a secure way once we no longer need
it.
What rights you have over
your personal information
You have certain rights
over your personal information. Most importantly, you have a right to ask for a
copy of all the personal information we hold about you but there are some legal
exceptions to this, such as information which is confidential to our setting.
If you would like a copy of your personal information, you should contact our
Manager – Miss Melanie Moyses
